41 Replies - 2316 Views - Last Post: 02 August 2013 - 02:53 PM

You won't like this. Oh well.

Posted 31 July 2013 - 09:57 AM

This website is a really cool idea. Have people sign up, ask and/or answer questions. A really positive thing. And I am sure that sometimes it works out like that. I asked a couple questions, and sure, they were answered eventually. But no one seems to want to.

An internet forum is generally free to use and join, and relies on the good word and faith of others, volunteering their time to help those of us who have less knowledge of a particular subject. Like I said, has the potential to be a very positive website. But the problem with this particular forum is the negativity.

There is always at least one person on EVERY topic I posted on who was extremely negative. The rules say "Do not be rude or hijack topics to criticize the OP." Cool. But they also say "Do not enforce rules in replies." So what am I to do? I report that particular person. I am a moderator and Supermod at several tech forums, and when we get reports, we follow through and warn the user. But for me to be told that "They can say what they want to say, block the dude." is a definite scale of how this website is run.

New users are assumed to know everything about what they are asking. If we knew everything, we wouldn't ask, Hence the 12-13 posts I have. I apologize for wasting your grand and glorious day reading newbie posts.

This is the ONLY forum I have ever felt compelled to write such a post as this due to the HUGE lack of rule enforcement and ambiguity with moderators. Now I won't have to spend hours hoping someone answered my question in a helpful matter and wondering what basic error I made in code that I wrote. I know this will be deleted and I will be banned for this, but you know? Maybe that's a good thing. Maybe if learning every new coding language was so stressful due to the community around it, I shouldn't even attempt.

Replies To: You won't like this. Oh well.

Re: You won't like this. Oh well.

Posted 31 July 2013 - 10:06 AM

From the one thread I posted on that you created, your first post wasn't that helpful because as you acknowledged in a later post, you knew you had compiler warnings/errors and you didn't post them and expected others to compile them instead. That was pointed out to you among other things and you almost seemed to ignore them. The problem with the code you posted was pointed out in that you were using char when you should've been using int.

Re: You won't like this. Oh well.

Re: You won't like this. Oh well.

Posted 31 July 2013 - 10:17 AM

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But for me to be told that "They can say what they want to say, block the dude." is a definite scale of how this website is run.

Certainly, but with in reason, right? Much like the world at large there are folk who talk in a blunt and direct manner which is often confused as being mean, rude, or some other perspective is attached. I reviewed the discussion you did not agree with, I sent that user a PM, and in the end did not find the other user overly critical, out of line, or with out merit. Clearly you see it otherwise. I am unable to micromanage people's communication styles to assure they conform to your needs or world views, but what I can do (and did) was offer an existing option to _NOT_ see certain users if they are so upsetting to you.

Again - because your perception of the rules or enforcement is not to your liking that is unfortunate, and does happen. I can assure you I looked into this matter.

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I know this will be deleted and I will be banned for this, but you know? Maybe that's a good thing. Maybe if learning every new coding language was so stressful due to the community around it, I shouldn't even attempt.

If that's your thought then fine - good luck.

As it is if you have a question or a response regarding my activity I would appreciate a PM and not some drawn out thread.

Re: You won't like this. Oh well.

Posted 31 July 2013 - 11:55 AM

vividexstance, on 31 July 2013 - 01:06 PM, said:

From the one thread I posted on that you created, your first post wasn't that helpful because as you acknowledged in a later post, you knew you had compiler warnings/errors and you didn't post them and expected others to compile them instead. That was pointed out to you among other things and you almost seemed to ignore them. The problem with the code you posted was pointed out in that you were using char when you should've been using int.

I know this thread has been closed, but I feel the need to emphasize this point. Posting your errors up front along with a clear description if what you want to accomplish is the best way to get help. It saves us time from having to compile your code ourselves, which means you are more likely to get the help you need. Frankly, if someone is resistant to posting error messages, I probably won't waste my time trying to help. This doesn't mean I won't ask for errors. It means I won't spend six posts trying to get a description of the problem. As someone who claims to be a moderator at other tech forums, I figured you would appreciate this.

As for unclear enforcement of the rules, this just isn't the case. Even when we opt to moderate, we prefer to handle things privately.

Re: You won't like this. Oh well.

Posted 01 August 2013 - 10:22 AM

I just want to add that when a program that just uses the standard library and is around 10 lines of code is posted, I can usually tell what's wrong without even compiling the program, and I'm sure others feel the same way. But to go and say that you expect others to copy+paste the code and then compile it to get the warnings/errors is pretty rude. You may have seen other posts that people did compile the code, I even do on some posts, but it's usually because the code is long and more than one file or the problem is difficult to find.

Re: You won't like this. Oh well.

Posted 01 August 2013 - 11:06 AM

And when the rudeness is coming FROM the new person? How would you recommend it be handled? Are we to just suck it up and allow ourselves to be belittled and berated because someone can't read a short block of text or respond civilly in turn?

Re: You won't like this. Oh well.

I think we need to be more tolerant to new people. Civility costs nothing. If they have provided insufficient information we can politely ask them to provide it. Rudeness is never a good answer.

Sent from my XT316 using Tapatalk 2

Are they not told/warned enough before posting?
I think it's pretty clear in my opinion...

It gets annoying, and sometimes it feels like DIC should have a canned text option to answer them to prevent rudeness. I feel bad for the kids waiting last minute to do their homework and rush to an on-line forum for an answer, barely skimming the rules/tips before posting.

Oh, and don't get me started on those who don't want to learn or show effort...

Re: You won't like this. Oh well.

Posted 01 August 2013 - 11:56 AM

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It gets annoying, and sometimes it feels like DIC should have a canned text option to answer them to prevent rudeness.

We do. It's called the "Gimme Teh Codez" macro. We have another one for no-details questions. Mods can use these macros to automatically close, move, and reply with canned text to bad posts. We use this all the time, but it's up to mod discretion as to what qualifies. So some slip by us. Just report any threads you see that are just begging for code or post a question with no details, and we'll check the report and take action if necessary.

Re: You won't like this. Oh well.

It gets annoying, and sometimes it feels like DIC should have a canned text option to answer them to prevent rudeness.

We do. It's called the "Gimme Teh Codez" macro. We have another one for no-details questions. Mods can use these macros to automatically close, move, and reply with canned text to bad posts. We use this all the time, but it's up to mod discretion as to what qualifies. So some slip by us. Just report any threads you see that are just begging for code or post a question with no details, and we'll check the report and take action if necessary.

After a little bit of research [1] [2] it has become more clear. That is a great feature I must say.

That being clarified, I feel like DIC is doing enough to prevent this, I don't agree with OP.